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Philip Jankowski

City Hall reporter

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Philip Jankowski covers Austin City Hall for the Austin American-Statesman. He is a 2007 graduate of the University of Texas’ School of Journalism and has worked for newspapers in Central Texas since. Philip joined the American-Statesman in 2013. Previously he covered breaking news and public safety for the Statesman. He is the winner of the 2016 Michael Brick Award for Storytelling.

Latest from Philip Jankowski

Former Travis County judge Bill Aleshire has sued the city of Austin in the Texas Supreme Court, challenging the ballot language of a proposition up for a local vote in November. The lawsuit filed Monday challenges ballot language related to Proposition K, which calls for an outside audit of government efficiency at City Hall.&nbsp...

The city of Austin likely will be sued in the Texas Supreme Court over ballot language adopted early Friday related to a petition ordinance calling for an outside efficiency audit of City Hall. The proposition will appear on November’s general election ballot. However, organizers behind the petition are crying foul over language they...

With a unanimous vote Thursday, the Austin City Council killed off the ambitious rewrite of Austin’s land development code known as CodeNext. The controversial project’s demise came with minimal debate as several of council members laid the blame for its failure on a convoluted process that generated widespread skepticism and...

With a unanimous vote Thursday, the Austin City Council killed off the ambitious rewrite of Austin’s land-development code known as CodeNext. The controversial project’s demise came with minimal debate as several of council members laid the blame for its failure on a convoluted process that generated widespread skepticism and...

The Austin City Council will vote Thursday on a resolution that aims to prevent Confederate heritage organizations from participating in the coming Veterans Day parade. Mayor Steve Adler is the lead sponsor of the resolution, which states that fee waivers for Veterans Day events should be reserved for ones that “honor only those who...

A city of Austin investigation released Tuesday found that a supervisor in the city’s fleet services department on multiple occasions took used vehicle parts and motor oil for his personal use. In April, the city of Austin’s auditor’s office received a complaint from fleet services that Donald Vaughan had taken and was selling...

Yet another citizen petition appears primed to appear on November’s ballot. The Austin City Clerk’s office validated a petition Friday that will ask Austin voters if the city should have an outside party conduct a one-time audit of government efficiency at City Hall. More than 30,000 people signed the petition, and the signatures...

Despite CodeNext’s demise being all but guaranteed, many members of the volunteer commission that spent hundreds of hours agonizing over the all-inclusive zoning project remain hopeful that their work can be salvaged. “I see it as a new beginning,” James Shieh, the new chair of the Austin Planning Commission, said Thursday...

CodeNext was all but bulldozed into rubble Wednesday after Austin Mayor Steve Adler abruptly called for a halt to the comprehensive rewrite of the city’s land development code. The over-budget project has endured numerous delays, but it was the divisive rhetoric surrounding CodeNext that appears to have doomed it. Since the first draft...

The sprawling West Austin home of U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul used more city-supplied water than any other single-family residence in 2017, according to the Austin water utility. McCaul’s hillside home near Lake Austin was one of 22 residences calculated to have used more than 1 million gallons of city water in 2017. The exact amount of...

Known as both the “father of Texas” and the namesake of the state’s capital, Stephen F. Austin carved out the early outlines of Texas among his many accomplishments. He also opposed an attempt by Mexico to ban slavery in the province of Tejas and said if slaves were freed, they would turn into “vagabonds, a nuisance...